A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW ^7;^ 



OF THE BOTANir 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. ^^'<"*- 



Vol. VII. No. 156. 



BARBADOS, APEIL 18, 1908. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Page. 



INIarket Reports 



Nitrogen as a Plant F(jod 



Notes and Comments ... 



Onion Growing in 



Montserrat 



Rice Culture in United 

 States 



Rubber Pl.-inting in the 

 West Indies 



Rubber Proiluction in 



Para 



School Gai'dens in the 



We.st Indies 



Sugar Industry : — 

 Beet Sugar Industry of 



Cnited States 



Sugar Industry in Java 



Sugar Productiiui in Cuba 



Sweet Potato Investiga- 

 tions 



Sweet Potatos, Propaga- 

 tion of, 



West Indies, Climate <if... 



Ylang-ylang Cultivation... 



Za])U[ie Fibre Plant 



128 

 12(5 

 120 



122 



127 



11.3 



120 



117 



11.5 

 115 

 121 



120 



120 

 120 

 J 21 



125 



Ivubber Planting in the West 

 Indies. 



attention, .since it is apparent that it i.s well .suited to 

 the natural conditions prevailing in this part of the 

 world, and moreover, is well adapted to serve as 

 a shade tree in and around cacao plantations. Para 

 rubber {Hcrra hrasiliensia) is also being planted, and 

 is almost everywiierc regarded with favour. For practi- 

 cal purposes, it may be said that planters in the West 

 Indian Islands are limiting their attention to these 

 two varietie.=. In British Guiana, probably more than 

 one species of Sapluin are found, which have been 

 proved to yield a good supply of valuable rubber. In 

 that colony, there.*'ore, while e.xperiments are undertaicen 

 with Cast'dUia and Hevea, it is possible that the best 

 returns may be obtained from the cultivation of the 

 native rubbers in preference to other kinds. 



Considering the great and continually increasing 

 number of uses to which rubber is applied in every-day 

 life, it is manifest that the market for the raw product 

 is in no danger of falling off to an appreciable extent. 

 The rapid displacement of horse traffic by motor 

 vehicles, that has taken place of late years, has alone 

 brought aliout an enormous and permanent increase in 

 the demand for rubber, while its peculiar physical 

 properties are continually creating fresh uses for it in 

 the arts and industries. 



UBBER planting on an experimental scale, 

 was begun in suitable localities in the 

 West Indies several years ago, and a remun- 



»- orative, if at present somewdiat small, industry is grad- 



'* 



iially being developed in more than one colony, notably 

 in Trinidad and Tobago. The Central American rubber 

 ^ (Casiillod ('taf<(ica)is the kind «liic-li has received most 



The world's supply of wild rubber, the chief sources 

 of which are the Amazonas district of Brazil, Mexico 

 and other parts of Central America, and Africa, is being 

 exploited as rapidly as collentors can get it on the 

 market, and since tlit- natural rate of replenishment is 

 tar less rapid than tho present rate of collectio ■, it is 

 obvious that exl-.aiistioii of the wild supply must sooner 

 or Liter e jme about. 



